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A comment on Palazzo Di Giustizia We find ourselves in a courthouse, two men are accused, one of robbing a petrol station, and the other one, the owner of the station, of shooting one of the two thieves. The latter accuse is discussed that day, both men have a face, a history and most important, a family. While the perpetrators in the court room are separated by bars and may only communicate by looks, their daughters, Luce and Domenica, get in direct contact in front of the room. Luce is very young, a child still, free and sassy and naïve and not quite able to understand the gravity of the situation. She cannot sit still, brings a sparrow with her, that keeps on escaping and has to be searched all over the courthouse, she plays in a puddle, collects glitter from the ground and brings a technician to share his food with her. And then there is the adolescent Domenica, who is trying to help her father and has a much better understanding of the situation, but still would love to be able...

Murder is exciting, murder fascinates, murder thrills. In Martin Scorsese's mafia films we wait spellbound for the next brutal crime, in Quentin Tarantino´s films we laugh heartily at bloody orgies of violence. In a macabre way, we can't get enough of murder.
 But we are so afraid of death. Or is our unrestrained voyerism based on a defense mechanism that can be explained psychologically? Rwanda 1994. Over 800,000 people are murdered within six weeks. Huge mass graves, memorials made of skulls. The images are cruel. I can turn them off, the Rwandan people will never be able to. The terrorist attacks in Hanau, Hesse, on Wednesday killed nine people. "Nine, that's not 800,000," some might think. But it's not about the numbers, it's about the motive.
 The motive was hate, hate for the supposed stranger.
 Hatred is stirred up and has many causes. Again and again this terrible potential of humans is used as a means to achieve political goals.
 But n...

The genocide in Rwanda in spring 1994 is one of the most serious crimes in human history. Within only six weeks, almost one million people were murdered, no, slaughtered. The genocide was the culmination of a hundred years of conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi. Put simply, the Tutsi aristocracy traditionally ruled and let the Hutu work for them. But it was only later that the two large population strata of Rwanda were classified as ethnically different population groups.
In 1897, Rwanda was colonized, and by Germany of all countries. From 1916 to 1962 Belgium took control. Rwanda then became independent, well, more or less independent. Because the influence of the former colonial masters continued in a devastating way. In summary, the genocide of the Tutsis and moderate Hutu was mainly due to the preference of the already privileged Tutsis by the European colonial rulers. But other African countries, interest groups and former colonial powers were also involved in the genocide. ...

Even without my prior knowledge from the film description, the urgency of the situation is clear from the first minute. Maryam (Sadaf Asgari) is brought handcuffed to the TV studio, is made ready for the shoot and has to wait. Wait for a live broadcast that will decide over her life. Because only the daughter of her late husband has the ability to forgive her and thus save her from the execution she was sentenced to for the apparent murder of her husband. Massoud Bakhshis film Yalda, la nuit du pardon tells the story of a young woman who has lost everything and whose life is now used to entertain 30 million people on television. This drama is inspired by a real TV show that was broadcasted in Iran for 12 years and has now fortunately been discontinued. It is difficult to look at. While watching Maryam nervously waiting, one can't help but get nervous as well. Without hesitation one wants to believe in her innocence and is on her side, suffers along with her emotional outbursts...

Hong Kong, July 28, 2019. Screaming, tear gas, gunfire. One, two, retreat from the front line, push forward. We are in the midst of Hong Kong's protests and uprisings last summer. We march with the masses, hiding behind the shields, seeing our comrades shouting commands, keeping moving, fainting, being carried away. Everything is chaotic and frightening, but still organized and controlled. For 15 minutes I hold my breath, my heart is racing and at the same time keeps skipping beats. It is suffocating. Incredibly suffocating to experience a day of the Hong Kong riots so close. In my holiday-influenced July, I did hear and read about the situation, but unfortunately I didn't learn about it too much. Therefore, it feels even more extreme to be thrown into this moment at the beginning of the 14+ Short Film Roll 2. Despite the brevity of the film, one arrives immediately within the scene. The camera fits seamlessly into the group dynamics. Everyone around is too busy to shy away ...

Devoured by the raging floods. The tsunami took everything from Haru. 
A blurred photo is all she has left of her family who have disappeared forever. Haru has no support, no one gives her security or even constant love. In silence, she wanders aimlessly. Once she screams all her suffering out into the world, it feels incredibly raw and real. Haru is played by Serena Motola, who gives her role a melancholic beauty and depth. When Haru speaks, one listens to her words, however ordinary they may seem at first. Haru is still a child, she thinks like a child, cries like a child and yet suffers like any other human being. Sadness and pain fill her soul. But her mind is not as closed as her introverted appearance might suggest. Without shyness, but also without a real alternative, she meets different people on her journey through the country, who all give her something to take with her on her journey. She is given affection and warmth. These encounters may be constructed and unreali...

“She won’t notice, she just thinks about her own shitty life.” - a comment on "La déesse des mouches à feu" Catherine, called Cat, is sick of life with her parents. The fights - even on her birthday - a contest about her affection and the physical violence between them, day after day. At school she comes into contact with the drug mescaline, which allows her to escape her thoughts and problems. New friends, first love, acceptance and finally no more fights. For Cat, the mescaline scene seems to be a way out and she drifts into an addiction. La déesse des mouches à feu is driven by two lines that leading Cat's life. On the one hand there's the time with her new friends - often high - expressed through visual and acoustic metaphors of freedom. Skating sounds becoming waves, the lights of the city turning into fireflies. Using slow-motion and great camera work, the audience experiences Cats' drug inebriation and her sense of freedom. On the other hand, Cat'...

Friday night - the Q&A of the opening film " H is for happiness " is over and the audience is swarming out of the cinema, crowding around the blue photo wall to get an autograph or photo of the two talents or to just enjoy the cheerful atmosphere. In the middle of excited kids and cameras Anna and I - waiting to meet the cast and director of the film for a short interview. Finally we discover the people we are looking for and are led to director John Sheedy, who takes a little time for us. fGR: "Congratulations to the movie. How was is for you to be the opening film of Berlinale’s Generation?" John Sheedy: "It is such a great honour to be the opening film. We love the Berlin film-festival and I always wanted the film to be part of it, so I thought it would fit in nice in this section. It’s my first time at the Berlinale and then to be told that we are the opening was even more exciting." fGR: "We enjoyed the landscape and nature very muc...

„How do you know god exists?“ Spain in the 1990s. At a Catholic school for girls, Celia finds herself on the threshold to teenage life. Slowly she and her friends get into first contact with alcohol and parties, listen to music together, smoke their first cigarette and get tips from teen magazines. However, this is resolved lovingly and gently. No excesses, nothing too dramatic. These are the first experiences of a twelve-year-old. Especially the new girl in class, Brisa from Barcelona, influences Celia. They have a lot in common, but at the same time Brisa cannot identify with the strong Catholicism, something Celia has never questioned. This lets Celia’s world crumble. She begins to question circumstances that she had previously taken for granted. A first tender rebellion begins. At home, the otherwise very intimate relationship with her single mother turns out to be increasingly difficult. Celia begins to demand more and more information about her family's background, even he...

In 2017 the Berlinale presented the Ukrainian documentary "Shkola nomer 3" as part of the Generation 14+ programme. Three years later a Ukrainian Filme made it into the programme again: "The earth is blue as an orange", providing insight into life in the Donbas - the border region between Ukraine and Russia. For even if presence in media decreases, the war on the border continues.  The following text is a media-extraction: a collage of current Facebook posts of people I met on my trip to Ukraine in 2017. It is an attempt to convey the feelings of people whom, as an outsider, I cannot put into words. This is how this picture of current times is created, supplemented by analogue photographs taken during my journey to Ukraine. BARBED WIRE AND PLASTIC FLOWERS  About the Ukrainian normandíö, or the village Berdânsʹke, where the sea was mined.  Today the cemetery is placed in front of a stone monument to the victims of the Holodomor, all over the square, whi...